Is James Jones legit?

[seahawksfan234]

I'm almost in disbelief a Mariners outfielder has played this well, I don't want to get my hopes up.

James Jones currently has an 11 game hitting streak and is hitting .316 as of this post.

Is Jones for real? Never heard much about him in the minors, but he did hit .316 in 24 games for Tacoma.

 

[SeattleCoug]

To soon to say but he definitely looks like he belongs. I also didnt know a ton about him. Never thought he projected as a ML outfielder.

At the very least he is a huge upgrade over Almonte.

 

[cezero]

seems pretty legit to me

 

[NWinAZ]

He was actually talked about a lot while in the minors over the last few years. He was promoted as one of our best athletes who was still developing his game. As long as he stays within himself, which i don't think Almonte did, then he will be fine. Just put the bat on the ball and use his speed for the rest.

 

[dude82]

I never heard much about him until he made his debut with the M's earlier in the season, but I also don't pay a lot of attention to what's happening in the minors. I've been impressed with him so far. He's stabilized the leadoff spot in the order and given Cano a lot of RBI chances he wasn't getting with Almonte at the top.

He just needs to keep doing what he's been doing and he should be fine. The one trap he'll have to avoid when pitchers inevitably adjust how they pitch to him and he goes into his first slump (as happens with everybody) is over-adjusting to those adjustments. That's the trap that a lot of our hitting prospects have fallen into and the reason why we haven't had many successful ones over the last decade. He can't get himself so out of whack that it takes him a long time to get back to what made him successful to begin with.

 

[blstoker]

Speed never slumps. That's what James Jones has and is what is the most important aspect of his game. If he can avoid a ton of strikeouts (the downfall of any leadoff hitter) and keeps the trajectory of his hits low, he'll be a success. 6 of hit 18 hits are infield singles, and because he hits the ball mostly on the ground and liners, if the ball gets to the outfield he's hitting .632 right now. He's only had 7 "fly balls", and he's hitting .421 on grounders and line drives.

As long as Jones remains a contact hitter, there's no reason that he'll not continue to keep pressure on other teams pitching and defenses.

 

[Logicallylethal]

Reminds me a lot of Juan Pierre with probably less stolen bases, but a slightly better glove and arm in the outfield.

 

[unlvmariners]

It is early in his career but so far he looks pretty good. I really like what I am seeing out of him so far as long as he keeps finding ways on base and doesn't strikeout much then I like him in the lead off spot.

 

[kcden]

I wonder if over time he'll develop base-stealing instincts and start to swipe a bunch of bags. He's so fucking fast, but I haven't seen him take-off much, so I imagine he just doesn't have a great feel for getting a jump.

 

[NWinAZ]

Probably true. As you know, it takes more than speed. Ricky Henderson was great at reading pitchers and he used his explosiveness to go nuts. I have always wanted M's to hire him to coach the kids in base stealing.

 

[seahawksfan234]

He is extremely fast, but as NWinAZ stated it does take more than just speed. Jones didn't exactly have the best record stealing bases in the minors. Jones had 99 career steals in 511 games, but was caught stealing 45 times.

Jones certainly has the speed, he just needs to develop the instincts.

 

[dude82]

As a team, the Mariners don't run much in general and it's not like they didn't have fast guys before Jones got here either. Ackley has speed and he's attempted 2 steals all season and been successful only once, Saunders has 2 stolen bases and so does Seager. Miller has 2, but hasn't been getting on base enough to be a legitimate threat to run. Cano has 3 to lead the team along with Jones and Almonte. What's weird is that Corey Hart has a pair of stolen bases.

 

[kcden]

As a team, the Mariners don't run much in general and it's not like they didn't have fast guys before Jones got here either. Ackley has speed and he's attempted 2 steals all season and been successful only once, Saunders has 2 stolen bases and so does Seager. Miller has 2, but hasn't been getting on base enough to be a legitimate threat to run. Cano has 3 to lead the team along with Jones and Almonte. What's weird is that Corey Hart has a pair of stolen bases.

And #2 put him out for 6+ weeks.

 

[dude82]

And #2 put him out for 6+ weeks.

Yep. Of all the players on the team, he was probably the last person who should have been trying to steal bases.

 

[SeattleCoug]

Suddenly his average his back down to .270. Looks like the rest of the league is catching up with him a bit. Question is can Jones make the adjustment? Something guys like Miller, Ackley and Franklin werent able to do after starting their career nicely.

 

[dude82]

Suddenly his average his back down to .270. Looks like the rest of the league is catching up with him a bit. Question is can Jones make the adjustment? Something guys like Miller, Ackley and Franklin werent able to do after starting their career nicely.

Weaver was throwing him nothing but junk, which is probably something that Jones will have to look forward to now, so we'll see how he adjusts. Given the number of ABs he's had so far, it's pretty easy for his batting average to go way up on a good day and way down on a bad day. We'll see.

 

[NWinAZ]

Good news is that there are not a lot of pitchers that throw the junk Weaver does. He went from 87 to 66 and that has to be tough for any young hitter.

 

[dude82]

Good news is that there are not a lot of pitchers that throw the junk Weaver does. He went from 87 to 66 and that has to be tough for any young hitter.

He'll be seeing a lot of off-speed stuff even if he doesn't see many guys like Weaver whose fastball is in the 80's.

 

[PolarVortex]

He'll be seeing a lot of off-speed stuff even if he doesn't see many guys like Weaver whose fastball is in the 80's.

But most of the other guys won't be able to locate pitches as effectively as Weaver or use different speeds as effectively as Weaver. I'm not worried that Weaver gave the league pitchers a blueprint on Jones. Just because it worked for Weaver doesn't mean it will work for everyone else.

 

[cezero]

Yeah, Weaver is getting craftier and craftier in his old age.

Very good learning experience for Jones and all of the kiddos, really.